Let me start with a few disclaimers that will go unnoticed by all those looking to find a conspiracy, throw me under the bus, or worse:

I have no axes to grind against the UFC, Dana White or anyone else for that matter. I’m a huge fan of both.

I’m not out to destroy fighters, their careers or MMA in general.

I don’t hate athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs. Actually, I feel for them because they are under tremendous pressure to perform, provide for their families, and keep their jobs. I truly understand why they do it. I just don’t condone it.

PEDs in combat and contact sports are a lose-lose proposition. No one knows what the true long-term risks are for the user, and it puts the opponent at increased risk of serious injury. Like I’ve said many, many times: Using PEDs to crush a baseball is one thing, but using them to crush a human being is quite another.

In any sport in which size, speed and explosiveness are useful qualities, PED use is likely widespread. To such a volatile mix, add money and the need for heightened aggression, and you begin to see the potential scope of the problem in MMA and many/all other contact and combat sports.

The “randomness” of random testing is what makes it so effective, both directly and indirectly. It is directly effective because a PED user never knows when to cycle off the banned substance to avoid detection. Also, the addition of blood testing allows for the detection of smaller amounts of banned substances for longer periods of time. It also allows for some substances that are not easily detectable in urine, most notably HGH (human growth hormone). Random testing is also indirectly effective as a deterrent to PED use in the first place. The dirty fighter must live in constant fear of an unannounced, surprise knock at the door and request to roll up their sleeve for a blood draw and/or provide a urine sample for testing. Failure to comply or avoidance of the test is an automatic immediate suspension.

Random blood and urine testing compels the cheaters to quit or risk getting caught – and the curious athlete to think long and hard before taking that first banned substance.

Why won’t the UFC initiate random year-round testing? This is a bit of a loaded question. Only UFC president White knows for sure, and I have no knowledge of his private thoughts. Last week he was quoted on MMAjunkie.com as saying, “We’ve got 375 guys under contract. We’re doing a zillion fights a year, traveling all over the world, all these other things that we’re doing. Now, you really think that we can crack down and [expletive] chase these guys around everywhere they live all over the world and just randomly test these guys all the time?”

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of his statement.

Since the UFC doesn’t have the time and/or manpower to police itself, and since the various state athletic commissions do not have the budgets to address it, why not hire an outside, independent, objective agency to handle those chores? These entities exit, and utilizing their services would remove the potential conflict of interest that may arise if the UFC tried to do it internally. There also is the added benefit of using world-class analytic testing laboratories that are WADA (World Anti-Doping Association) certified – something that is not currently being done. The policies regarding procurement of samples, handling of samples, chain of custody and testing are far more rigorous in these WADA-certified labs.

The expense of a top-notch monitoring program is significant but well within the budget of the UFC. The cost for a nonprofit agency such as the very well respected Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) to administer a year-round, random testing program is $2,500 to $5,000 per athlete. The UFC has a roster of 375 fighters; therefore, this program would cost less than $2 million per year.

A lot of money? Yes. But it’s well within the budget of a billion-dollar global organization.

The UFC could then focus on what it does best – promote MMA fights – and the not-for-profit VADA would do what it does best, which is independently monitor athletes for banned substances.

The solution to the dilemma of proper monitoring of banned substances in the UFC seems readily available and affordable.

Maybe they’re just afraid and ill-prepared to address what the VADA is likely to find.

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Dr. Johnny Benjamin is MMAjunkie.com’s medical columnist and consultant and a noted combat-sports specialist. He is also a member of the Association of Boxing Commissions’ MMA Medical Subcommittee. Dr. Benjamin writes an “Ask the Doc” column approximately every two weeks for MMAjunkie.com. To submit a question for a future column, email him at askthedoc [AT] mmajunkie.com, or share your questions and thoughts in the comments section below. You can find Dr. Benjamin online at www.drjohnnybenjamin.com, and you can read his other sports-related articles at blog.drjohnnybenjamin.com.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.